Ahead of the Curve

The lending environment is undergoing a worrying change. Funds that European direct lenders have raised but not yet deployed are at an all-time high and banks in most Western-European jurisdictions have renewed lending following years of reticence after the global financial crisis, leading to increased competition amongst lenders in the small and medium enterprise (SME) market.

Delta Lloyd buys Dutch asset manager

The Cyrte boutique, originally founded in 2000 to manage the private wealth of media media-entrepreneur John de Mol, set up two investment funds focusing on the telecommunication, media and technology industry.

But earlier this year, €70bn Dutch health worker pension fund PGGM became the first to invest in the Cyrte 1 fund, allocating €500m. The Cyrte 1 fund is open to professional investors only and the asset manager aims for assets in the region of €1-1.5bn.

"The most important thing is that Cyrte Investments brings us the results and know-how we have agreed upon," a spokeswoman for PGGM told IPE.

"If that continues with Delta Lloyd we are content. It's less relevant for us who is the owner of Cyrte Investments."

Delta Lloyd currently has €52bn in assets under management and is almost solely managed for institutional investors in Europe.